Singapore says it will not negotiate with Iran for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz as a matter of principle because it believes transiting critical waterways is a right and not a privilege.
The Southeast Asian city-state, despite its tiny size, is a shipping superpower. It sits on the Strait of Malacca, the crossroads of major global maritime routes between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, and hosts the world’s busiest trans-shipment port, through which 3.1 billion tonnes of vessel arrivals passed in 2024. It is also the world’s largest refuelling point for ships and reported a record 54.9 million metric tonnes of marine fuel sales in 2023.
“There is a right of transit passage. It is not a privilege to be granted by the bordering state, it is not a licence to be supplicated for, it is not a toll to be paid,” foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan told the parliament on Tuesday when asked whether Singapore would negotiate passage through the Strait of Hormuz or consider paying a toll to Iran, which closed the critical waterway after it was attacked by the US and Israel.
This makes Singapore the only Asian country so far to publicly refuse negotiating passage with Iran. India, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines, among other countries, have already made deals with Tehran to allow their shipments through. Some vessels are reportedly paying as much as $2m (£1.4m) in fees to Iran to cross the waterway without coming under fire, according to a recent Lloyd’s List report.
According to Mr Balakrishnan, Singapore’s position is that the right of transit is part of customary international law, and negotiating passage with Tehran would implicitly erode the legal principle of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) or the Law of the Sea Treaty, to which Singapore is a signatory along with more than 170 nations.
Mr Balakrishnan said his diplomatic channel with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, was open before the war and remained so now. “I am sure I will engage him in the near future,” he said. “But as a matter of principle, and not because we are taking sides, I can’t engage in negotiations for safe passage of ships or negotiate on toll rates.”
The Strait of Malacca is arguably as critical a chokepoint for global shipping as the Strait of Hormuz. In fact, more maritime oil – both crude and refined – passes through the waterway near Singapore than through the one near Iran. It’s the same for global container trade flows. Malacca is less than two nautical miles wide at its narrowest, compared to 21 for Hormuz.
“Do you understand now why we have to take a categorical position that international law and UNCLOS is the constitution of the oceans?” Mr Balakrishnan asked. He added that the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore was in close contact with owners and operators of Singapore-flagged or Singapore-registered ships in the Persian Gulf, and these agencies were exploring potential opportunities to facilitate safe transit of the ships.
